Dual bombs kill 20 in Baghdad

Schoolchildren on bus among those injured in coordinated attack

May 8, 2005|By Michael Martinez and Liz Sly Chicago Tribune

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Two car bombs targeted a contractors' convoy in central Baghdad on Saturday as a minibus was about to carry away schoolchildren, killing more than 20 people, including two Americans, the U.S. military said.

Officers with the U.S. 7th Cavalry's 3rd Squadron and the Iraqi army described the coordinated attack as a "car-bomb sandwich." One bomber apparently pulled out from an alley near the school to attack the convoy's rear, and another crashed into the front of the convoy head on.

Saturday's dual car bombings were so powerful, they destroyed the armored sport utility vehicles in the contractors' convoy and blew out windows for a block.

Exact figures on the number of children from the nearby school injured or killed in the incident were unavailable late Saturday.

"They must have seen the school bus," said Lt. Tim Fisher, 25, of the 3rd Squadron, commander of a cavalry Humvee convoy.

"It was right there. It just shows they have no qualms about the collateral damage that they cause. That's one of the busiest streets in Baghdad."

Staff Sgt. Eric Bull, 26, a cavalry scout who responded to the explosion, described the two-car attack as "pretty rare."

"Maybe one out of 10 is coordinated like this," Bull said. "Most of them do target opportunities; they roll around and pick what's a soft target for them." Elsewhere in Iraq, Army officials said Saturday that 12 bodies were found this past week in the Tigris River in the former insurgent stronghold of Salman Pak, about 20 miles downstream from Baghdad.

The bodies of six men were found Monday. They apparently were shot in the head after they were blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs, said Lt. Col. Michael Johnson, commander of the 3rd Squadron who a week ago opened the U.S. Army's first outpost in Salman Pak in two years.

On Wednesday, the bodies of four women and two children were found in the river near the same spot, he said.

In other violence Saturday, a bomb killed a Marine during a combat operation in Karmah, about 50 miles west of Baghdad, military officials said.

Against the backdrop of surging violence, Iraq's new prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, announced that he was prepared to submit to the National Assembly today six more names for his Cabinet, ending more than three months of bickering and indecision about the nation's new government.

Al-Jaafari did not reveal the names but said they had been approved by Iraq's three-member presidency.